Tucumcari man shot in neck

June 3, 2009

By Chelle Delaney: Freedom New Mexico

A Tucumcari man is charged with a shooting another man in the back
of the neck in the parking lot of the Redwood Lodge in Tucumcari on
Monday.

Howard Russell King, the victim, was transported to Tucumcari
Memorial Hospital by relatives about 8:45 p.m. on Monday, according to
documents filed with the Quay County Magistrate Court and a Tucumcari
Police Department press release.

King was later transferred to the intensive care unit at an Amarillo
hospital, where he remains today. A spokesperson for the hospital
declined to release King’s condition.

The man charged with shooting King is identified as the manager of
the Redwood Lodge, Robert W. Wynashe, 66, also known as “Chief,”
according to court documents.

Wynashe is charged with seven felony counts, including aggravated
battery, shooting at a motor vehicle, tampering with evidence and
criminal damage of property.

He is jailed in the Quay County Detention Center on a $1 million cash bond, court documents state.

According to court documents:

King was moving out of the Redwood Lodge with help from relatives on Monday night.

King, a passenger in the front seat of a car, told the driver to
stop because someone was motioning to him from the parking lot.

King’s niece, who was in the back seat of the car, said she saw
Wyhnashe with a gun and he shot at the vehicle hitting the passenger
side glass busting it out.

The driver of the car said he did not see who shot at them. He said
he heard a loud bang and the windows of his vehicle breaking.

The driver said, “He looked over and saw Russell grab his chest, then watched him fall over into his lap.”

In the hospital, police asked King if he “saw who shot him,” and said that “Chief did.”

A search of the manager’s quarters of the Redwood Lodge located two
boxes of ammunition with rounds missing in an unlocked safe.

“On the front porch was a green chair and located under the seat
cushion was a .357 magnum handgun loaded and one round discharged,”
the documents stated.